The Feathered Visitor

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

Interior works continue steadily. A new former has been built which will be used to test whether panels can be bent to the required shape to use as ceiling panels throughout the passenger saloon.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

Progress has been temporarily halted as there have been distractions in the form of the contractor moving away from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway into new, non-rail connected premises. 16631 successfully moved to the new building, also in Derbyshire, earlier this week. It is hoped progress will resume shortly once things have settled at the new facility.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

Absent from these notes but ongoing for a few weeks now is the Corridor Third coach from the Gresley set, more commonly known as the Morgan coach or Play coach, parked in platform 3 at Sheringham. Its turn for restoration is not here yet, however the woodwork has been looking poorly, and with the coach in such a visible location, it was time to improve the appearance of the landward (platform) side. It is only stabilizing works, "proper" repair will wait until it is restored properly, however much wood has been chiseled out, repair pieces spliced in and sections of beading and panelling replaced with plywood. Rough areas are being filled and repaired areas primed before beading is refitted ready for a repaint.

We hope to complete the repairs later this month in time for a painting party using some corporate volunteers visiting the railway.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

Heavy bodywork continues, with the most visual area of progress being the seaward side of the guards compartment. This has been completely stripped back, most of the lower half framework replaced and then skinned again.

The adjacent passenger door has been test hung and much of the ancillary work to hinges, handrails, grab handles and bump stops all completed whilst we are in the area.

Welding works have also continued around the former toilet area, but this has been focused on making the floor supports good. A great deal of woodwork repair is also being undertaken, so that original bearers can be put back suitably strong again. Much like the guards compartment a few weeks ago, a solid floor at this end will be key to having a good base to build on. Not paying the floor enough attention until later was a bad mistake we made without previous Gold overhaul, BCK 21224, so we won't fall into the same trap twice!

Further flooring has been lifted at the other end of the passenger saloon, but this was more to enable repairs to the adjacent doorway pillars more than anything.

Interior tongue and groove planking is being sorted out with rotten material from the guards compartment and side corridor being replaced with salvaged examples from the luggage van area, which won't be going back in due to this area being paneled differently for use as a kitchen. Despite the luggage are being rather large, we are actually struggling to find enough material in sound condition just for the guards area. There won't be a great deal left spare at the end of the process!

Half a day was spent surveying the First Open coach, 3116, at Sheringham as this is the only coach on the railway that has existing curved wall vestibule toilets, which is the style we require to copy to put into the end of 14021. We need to be very careful "playing God" at this end of the coach so our measurements need to be perfect if the FO style toilet is going to fit into the place where there never was one. Mark 1's are supposedly modular so on paper the two toilet compartments are interchangeable in the same space, sounds easy doesn't it!

Down in the upholstery department, a very nice job has been made of the first trial seat which is now complete. This is the first "First Open" seat the department has ever tackled, and its success bodes well for the remaining seven "doubles" and eight "singles".

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

The lower half of the carriage has now been painted and is resplendent in maroon gloss. The upper half will be tackled once the vehicle is in the staging. The footboards have also been repainted.

Staying with the painting theme, the two end corridor doors have been sanded back and painted brown, to match the rest of the fleet.

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Painting has now been completed on the vehicle which has had two coats of green gloss all round, in challenging heat. It is now ready for lining to commence.

All of the window frame units have now been diligently cleaned and are ready for refitting once the lining is finished.

The cab interior continues to be painted with maroon wall glossing almost complete and several of the components being fitted back into place.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

Awaiting space at the "Holt wagon facility" to be finished off!

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

Reportedly there is just one or two more days until completion, the team keep finding a little more to do. The solebar now has its top coat applied, but final lettering cannot be completed as the sign writer has been whisked away to work elsewhere, on the DMU lining at Weybourne!

Workshop

The workshop became resident to a Dutch racing pigeon for about four days. We read online that if they are too well fed then they sometimes don't continue on their journey so we immediately furnished the creature with biscuit crumbs to tempt him in becoming the Carriage & Wagon mascot, but alas, his training and instinct kicked in and he continued on his journey. Tot ziens Speckled Jim!!

DMU Painting Progress

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

Work has been steady with existing tasks being moved along. More investigations to the leaking vacuum system have been traced to leaks in joints in the main steel pipe itself, which is unfortunate but at least something has been found as the vacuum was leaking away slowly. Inside the vehicle, the window units continue to receive finishing attention as have the two passenger doors. Newly varnished planking in the lower part of the door has been fitted on the landward side and looks very nice.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

No progress to report, though it expected that a further image update is due shortly to update us all on the contractor's progress.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

This has been a major focus of attention recently with a push being had on some fairly major tasks. The project to rebuild the guards compartment and adjacent corridor has progressed in leaps and bounds with bodywork renewal on the landward side fully completed, which has included two doorways, hanging one of the doors, renewal of all of the floor supports and the fitting of new floor boarding.

Work has now moved over to the seaward side which requires similar treatment. The outside requires stabilising so that the floors can provide a solid working platform to then restore the remainder of the interior and continue building things back up.

Two of the "floating" bulkhead walls are now back down on proper supports again which is a good sign the interior rebuild is starting.

At the other end of the vehicle, the rot in the floors was found to be more advanced than first thought, so the vestibule-to-saloon bulkhead has had to be removed as well so the vestibule is temporarily missing as an entity, the end of the vehicle becoming onw big stripped out shell!

With all walls out, a lot of the floor has been taken up and the tops of the main chassis cleaned up and protected. Floor bearers are all being renewed at the ends where required to strengthen them back up before we again look at refitting flooring.

It is likely we will remove the old toilet water tank from the roof before this end is reassembled.

The outside of the vehicle at the Holt end of the passenger saloon is also being looked at at the same time, with the lower "skirt" being chopped off to repair lower frame sections prior to welding a new skirt back on. Some areas will be replaced entirely below the window with new sheet steel.

All in all a very intensive period of repair on the vehicle at the present time, which can hopefully continue.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

The remedial attention to the seaward side to prepare for correcting the faded and chipping has been completed so the upper body is now ready for painting.

Inside the coach, all of the lower seat bases have been rotated around from one side of the coach to the other to give some of them a rest from the sun side. The lower door cards have been refixed to the aluminium door frame castings as many of them were hanging around loose. They have also been re-varnished whilst we have the opportunity.

We also lifted the coach off its bogies so that we could change several cracked bogie bolster springs, but unfortunately the spring plank has been found to be seized, preventing us from taking it apart at the moment. We are having a re-think and will have a second attempt after we have explored the best ways of forcing these components apart!

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Along with 14021, this vehicle has seen a push forwards of late with the exterior painting progressing well. The priming and undercoating of the whole vehicle has now been completed and the roof painting is also complete.

Gloss painting has now started although this week it has proven difficult with temperatures too high for painting of large panels.

Gloss painting of the cab interior also continues to progress.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

The remainder of the brake works to the vehicle have now been completed with all of the flexible hoses and couplings now back onto the vehicle. The system has also been tested successfully, so after many years with an isolated vacuum cylinder, the wagon can finally re-join the braked "fitted" group of BR wagons.

The wagon will shortly be moving to Holt where the remainder of the upper body repairs and repainting work is due to be completed.

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

The Fruit D is almost complete, again the team have had to rely on good weather, which they do not seem to get on the Tuesday's and Thursday's they volunteer!

Brian is concentrating on the lettering. Final checks will take place before it is released to traffic, the aim is still completion by July end!

Workshop

Fabrication of some new buckeye coupling release bars to supplement the existing stock is now complete with them being painted this week. These bars will be used by shunters to split Mark 1's and other coaches joined by buckeye couplers.

Gresley TTO Cleared

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

Work has been split between continuing with window framing work and a return to the vacuum system. The windows have seen the first wooden surround fitted round the newly completed brasswork, whilst the hunt for further vacuum leaks within the system has resumed in earnest.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

No progress to report.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Tourist Third Open E13548E (STORED)

This long term stored resident inside Bridge Road Carriage Sheds was drawn out of its slumber in order to be cleared out as part of an ongoing programme to better organise some of our stores. The future project Gresley coach was tripped to Holt station along with five other stored vehicles with the main aim of transferring spares out of 13548 and into other vehicles. The opportunity was also taken to move lots of seating from other vehicles into the consist all into one centralised space, so for the first time in decades we now have an inventory of all the stored carriage seating we have on the railway. This list will be essential in future planning and ensuring that we have seating in stock for future restorations, both Mark 1 and Gresley. 13548 has now returned indoors awaiting its turn for restoration.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

Welding repairs continue with the landward side centre vestibule doorway now completed and the door test hung.

Adjacent floor support metalwork in the passenger saloon has also seen a repair undertaken, as whilst we are not tackling this area just yet, the continued presence of the corrosion in this first support would have adversely affected the floor laying we plan to do in the vestibule and guards side corridor.

At the other end of the coach, the former toilet wall has been demolished to again give access for floor steelwork repairs. The toilet at this end will be rebuilt (as a store cupboard) in due course with the wall returning, however the configuration of the toilet and shape will be changed from its original corridor style to an open coach layout, something we have never undertaken before!

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

The repairs to the failed filler have now been completed on the landward side which was the worst affected area. This has involved removing the old unstable material, getting a better key on the original metal surface and refilling as required. The treated areas have been patch primed and further remedial works will be undertaken on the seaward side before repainting is started.

Inside the vehicle, five worn out armrests have been replaced with second hand examples we had in stock, and the remainder rotated round to hide the worn end into the seat back and expose the hidden end at the front to take the next generation of arm wear!

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

The front end conversion to "Met Camm Lightweight" has now been completed with the addition of the replica waist height jumper cable sockets below the cab windows. This has changed the front end appearance noticeably. With the final works complete, this has allowed the cab front to be primed which means it is now all one colour again after many months of looking like a patchwork quilt.

Inside the cab, repainting of the walls is progressing well with the whole area now in maroon undercoat. The gloss work has now started. Smaller items such as the fire bell and lighting control faceplate area also seeing paint prior to being refitted.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

The brakegear has now been reassembled around the newly refitted vacuum cylinder, with the next planned job being refitting all the flexible vacuum hoses.

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

No progress to report.

E21224 Returned to Service

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

The recently installed sliding light units in the eight passenger windows are being tidied up with mastic cutting back and further cleaning to ensure their appearance and longevity in service.

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

Some more mundane but nevertheless essential work is being pushed through at the moment. With the vehicle still on stands further frame painting and pipework has been progressed along with brake-gear linkages.

A miscellany of underframe and end parts are being cleaned and painted ready for refitting, this has also included the roof vents.

Finally, the semi dismantled bogies are being worked through and wasted parts identified for repair or in several cases replacement with spares. This will be aided by many of the parts sent from Weybourne.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

The main focus has continued to be metalwork in the area around the guards compartment. The landward side, where the side corridor is located, is now fairly advanced at the lower end with lower sections of the inward opening door welded in place to the underframe and horizontal sections of framework at the bottom renewed. The current angle of attack is the adjacent passenger doorway which requires whole new door framework to be welded in.

The remainder of the solebar and Sheringham end bufferbeam have now been needle gunned and primed, which completes this initial part of the chassis clean up. The vehicle will be lifted before we progress any further on this front.

Many volunteers have been active inside the vehicle, focusing on the passenger saloon and the Holt end vestibule and former toilet. The toilet is being demolished and will be replaced with a curved "first Open" style toilet, which will house a storage space. All of the fittings and wall panels have now been stripped out of the toilet with the basin and pan a memory! It now looks rather stark in there and sadly much corrosion and rot has been found in the floor around this area. We plan to take down at least two of the walls to tackle the floor before rebuilding upwards.

Inside the passenger saloon, fittings that will be moved or are not required for the coach's new open configuration have been stripped out. Extensive woodwork that used to run down the corridor, housing the heaters, has been removed and all of the passenger communication chains and bowls have been extracted. One of them will be refitted in due course but with the bowls in different locations. Severed sections of bulkhead that once formed the compartment side walls have also been extracted.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (REPAIR)

We quickly completed the works to 21224, finishing off the battery charger and window glass replacement in the toilet and guards compartment. The coach was then moved outside where repairs to the controlled emission toilet were completed and tested successfully. It was then tripped back to Sheringham to be returned to the "B set" for use throughout this summer.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

The replacement in the workshop for 21224 is TSO 4843 which has been suffering from filler cracking, paint fade and coil spring cracks. Other than these ailments the coach is in good order and does not cause much trouble at all in service, so hopefully it will be a fairly straightforward mission for this one.

Early days yet, but so far an insecure step on the Sheringham end bogie has been replaced with another one, five worn armrests have been replaced with some better second hand examples upholstered in the same material, and some of the worst filler sections have been popped out ready to stabilise/replace. 

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

The underframe and bufferbeam repainting has now been completed. The final tasks were the seaward side of the leading bogie being finished in black gloss and picking out all of the details and pipework on the front in the various colours, it now looks very bright!

After many weeks of struggle, all of the bodyside windows have now received a full replacement set of internal rubbers, so these are now ready to refit at the required time.

56062 has now been moved into the staging where the upper half painting has begun. Other priorities have meant progress has been slow but primer has been applied to much of the landward side.

Meanwhile the final parts of the cosmetic works to convert the vehicle into a Metro Cammell Lightweight vehicle have been produced, the waist height jumper cable sockets, and will be fitted shortly.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918

Following a further period of the project having been stalled, it was decided to give it a boost and dismantle the brakegear to access the failed vacuum cylinder and swap it out for a newly overhauled example. This was done at the same time as M35148's cylinder swap as we were already all set up for the process. The vehicle now sports its new cylinder and it is planned to reassemble the brakegear and adjust the brakes before we do a test to see if we can finally return the wagon to the vacuum fitted list.

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

Brian Ashby has continued rubbing down and applying top coats where possible as, once again, the team have been thwarted by the weather!

It is impossible to paint the landward side without moving the wagon out from the museum awning. Brian is concentrating on the ends and the seaward side until the weather allows further progress. 

Others have been priming ironwork and refixing to the wagon, a slow process but they are getting there.

If the weather improves, they will attack the rest of the painting! If not, they will reassemble the M&GN horse dray and dismantle the now rather scruffy marquee in that area.

Workshop

In amongst all the other work, we have fitted in fabricating some new loco allocation boards for the public information sign up at Holt, and continue restoring furniture for the stations.

Maintenance

Now the season is in full swing repair tasks are taking up some time at Sheringham. We have also prepared suburban open 48001 for daily service in the B set as our delayed programme now means that TSO 4843 (mentioned above) will not be available for the main summer, so a high capacity vehicle is required to substitute.

The main A set brake, BSK(D) M35148, only recently outshopped, suffered a brake cylinder failure recently. The coach was quickly tripped to Weybourne where an overhauled example was fitted and tested. It has now been returned to Sheringham and is back in the train.